GOP staffer found zip-tied in the woods, face cut, and a Trump slur on her stomach. But she’s the one who ends up being arrested

Natalie Greene, a staffer for a GOP congressman, has been arrested by authorities and charged with allegedly staging an elaborate hoax. Earlier this year she claimed to have been assaulted by unknown assailants who tied her up and wrote derogatory language relating to Donald Trump on her body.

Greene, who at one time was working for GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew, is now facing a charge of conspiracy and making false statements to law enforcement as per CNN.

What happened to Natalie Greene?

On the night of July 23, 2025, a friend of Greene’s called the police claiming that they had been assaulted by a group of men in a wooded area of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. The three men allegedly knew Greene by name and also knew that she worked at Van Drew’s office, making it seem like it was very much a targeted attack.

Officers responding to the call discovered Greene crying and screaming in the woods with her hands and feet bound by zip-ties. She also had cuts on her face along with the words “Trump wh—,”  written on her stomach and “[Van Drew] is racist,” on her back.

Greene claimed that the attack happened after she had received threats at work. She told authorities that three men had attacked her with one telling her he had a firearm, although she admits she never saw it. According to Greene, the men struck her on the head and began to cut and scrape her body. One of the men also lifted up her shirt and wrote on her stomach and back.

Authorities examine the story closer

Greene was questioned by the FBI and almost instantly they began noticing holes in her story. The night of the supposed attack, police found similar looking zip-ties in her car. The friend who called the police, Greene’s “co-conspirator,” had also googled “zip-ties near me,” on her phone a couple of days before the incident.

After checking Greene’s phone, authorities discovered that she had paid a body modification/scarification artist $500 for the cuts on her body. With all the evidence it seems clear that Natalie Greene had staged the whole attack. 

The motivations for such a hoax are unclear, maybe she was hoping to stoke division between the left and right even more, or maybe it was just for attention. Either way, she now faces up to ten years in prison for the hoax if found guilty for the charges brought against her. A statement from Van Drew’s office claimed that “Natalie is no longer associated with the Congressman’s government office,” adding, “We hope she’s getting the care she needs.”